


We Promised

by destielisanoof



Series: Band Doodles [1]
Category: Metallica
Genre: Arguing, Attempt at Humor, Blood Brothers, Blood Pacts, Drama, Drinking, Feels, Fluff, Humor, I Tried, I cat tag, Idiots in Love, M/M, Sad with a Happy Ending, St. Anger-era, Winter, im sorry, ish, its has feels, kea-era, then turned depressing, this is cheesy, this was cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:53:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24202387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/destielisanoof/pseuds/destielisanoof
Summary: Cliff, Kirk, James and Lars come back from the bar, half of them drunk and the other half sober. Around 4 am they are all woken up by someone sobbing and make a blood pact, promising something to one another. They then wake up to a snow blizzard and are forced to stay inside. (Lots of fluff but there's some feels in the middle and near the end. I also can't summarise and if you want to copy to another site, make sure to credit :D )
Relationships: Cliff Burton/Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield/Lars Ulrich
Series: Band Doodles [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1746823
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry prior to this. I know it's cheesy but i tried.

**March 10th, 1985**

Cliff unlocked the door to the hotel room and stumbled inside, Lars pushing him through the door as he ran to the bathroom, almost tripping over. James came through the door with a drunk and giggling Kirk on his shoulder. Cliff tossed the hotel keys to the coffee table and looked at James who had to carry wasted Kirk all the way from the bar. They had just done an underground gig in New York and then went to a bar to get wasted and pick up some chicks. They tried to get some chicks to get laid but Kirk started drinking too much and almost got into a fight with someone so they left. 

On the way back to the hotel Kirk tripped over himself and fell on someone’s car which triggered the alarm. The four of them started running when they heard the owner of the car yelling at them. Kirk tripped on Cliff and fell face-first to the ground, giggling like a little girl and trying to tear Cliff’s shoe off. Cliff had enough of him and cursed at the wasted Kirk and continued walking with Lars who promised to make fun of him the next morning. James glared after them and helped Kirk up, who then proceeded to try and braid James’ hair. James sighed and picked up Kirk, throwing him over his shoulder and carrying him down the streets fireman style.

It took them a while to get back at the hotel because Lars had to pee twice, who ended up peeing in someone’s bush. The other time he peed in a trash can, more like around it. James was done with everyone, Cliff wanted to pass out, Lars was peeing a trash can and Kirk was trying to braid Cliff’s hair. 

Now Lars came out of the bathroom and ripped his pants off, throwing them at his laundry bag. He saw Cliff sleeping in his sleeping bag, already asleep. James had face-planted on his bed and was spread out like a starfish. Kirk was slowly stripping to go to bed, trying to discover how a zipper worked.

“Move over you fat focking horse,” Lars said to James, trying to get under the covers.

“How can a horse be fat?” James asked lazily and Lars hit him on the back of the head, getting in bed beside James. He had his sleeping bag but didn’t want to sleep on the ground. Besides, he has bunked with James before. 

Lars turned around to face Kirk who now proceeded to take his underwear off.

“Kirk!” Lars snapped at him and caught his attention, causing him to stop what he was doing.

“Yeah?” he hiccuped, a bright drunk smile on his face.

“I swear if you take your underwear off I will chop your dick off and feed it to you,”

His smile disappeared off his face and stared at Lars like he had just kicked his puppy.

“Shut up Lars! When you run around with your balls wiping the air it’s fine. Let the poor kid be free,” Cliff snapped at him from the sleeping back. Kirk’s face brightened up like a light bulb and he tore his underwear off, throwing it on the ground. He turned the opposite direction from Lars, flashing him his ass before going under the covers.

“Remind me to never let him drink again,” he muttered before going back to sleep.

It must have been around 4 am when Cliff woke up to some strange sound. He got out of the sleeping bag and grabbed his water bottle beside him. He screwed the lid back on and noticed the sound was coming from the corner of the room and it was muffled. Cliff looked around the room, noticing James half sitting up, looking around the room to find where the sound was coming from.

“You hear it too?” Cliff whispered. James nodded and sat up fully, rubbing his face. Lars was beside him fast asleep, snoring like a fat focking horse. Cliff looked over at Kirk who seemed to be shaking under the covers. He sighed and stood up, walking to the smaller man across the room. 

He sat in the middle of Kirk’s bed, lightly pulling the covers back from Kirk’s face who was pressed up against the wall, revealing his face covered in tears.

“Hey, Kirk, what’s wrong man?” Cliff asked, pulling Kirk’s hair back from his sweaty forehead.

Kirk’s eyes snapped at him, choking back a sob he whispered, “I’m sorry,”

“Hey, hey,” Cliff whispered, cupping his face and whipping the tears with his thumbs, “it’s fine. Kirk, what’s wrong?”

Kirk looked guilty, turning his body towards Cliff. “Nothing,” he lied under his breath.

James now was sitting by Kirk's legs beside Cliff, “It’s not nothing, somethings wrong, you know you can talk to us,” James tried to sound friendly but his voice was too deep from his sleep he sounded like a dragon.

Kirk just stared at James for a minute before he burst into tears again. Cliff sat him up by the waist and let Kirk bury his face on his bare shoulder. 

“Shh, it’s okay. You’re alright,” Cliff soothed, rubbing circles on his back with his thumb. James held Kirk’s shoulder, unsure of what to do.

“What the fock are you guys doing?” Lars cursed, sitting up.

“Shut the fuck up,” James told him. Lars flipped him off and climbed on the bed and sat across from Kirk.

“What’s wrong with him?” Lars asked.

Cliff just shrugged, running his hand through Kirk’s long black hair. After a couple minutes of Kirk bawling his eyes out, he calmed down. Lifting his face from Cliff’s shoulder he wiped his tears with his palms. 

“You okay?” James asked, more calmer this time.

Kirk nodded and took a deep breath, “I’m sorry I woke you up, guys,”

“Kirkie it’s fine. What’s wrong man?” Lars said fidgeting with the sheets.

“I...just had a bad dream. Go back to sleep,” he said letting go of Cliff.

“What’d’ ya see?” Cliff asked, ignoring what he said.

“It’s nothing,” Kirk whispered, bringing his knees up to his chest and looking at the three other men with puppy eyes.

“We’re not leaving until you tell us what you saw,” James said sitting on the bed cross-legged. Lars leaned on him, waiting for Kirk to start talking.

“It was with the four of us. We were all yelling and arguing. I don’t know why but we were. Then I heard someone say ‘I’m done with you all, I quit’. I think it was Cliff because he picked up his bass and left the room first. Then you and Lars glared at each other and one by one also left. And I was alone then woke up,” he admitted, resting his chin on his knees, not looking up at the guys.

“Is that why you were crying? Because one day we might not be together?” Cliff asked and Kirk looked up at him nodding.

“We won’t, we’ll always stay together,” Lars promised but it wasn’t enough for Kirk.

“But how do you know? What if one day we start arguing and decide not to be together anymore. So many good bands broke up for stupid reasons. How do you know we won’t like...10 or 40 years from now. And I was fine with leaving my friends in Exodus because we weren’t really close, not as close as I am with you guys,” Kirk explained, tears forming in his eyes again.

Cliff pushed his hair back and said, “Well, we won’t argue. And I think I would have to be insane to leave you guys.”

“But what if one day one of you guys die? I won’t survive that,” he added, his eyes letting tears escape.

“Well, Death can go fock himself,” Lars told him, wiping the tears off of Kirk’s face with his thumbs. 

Kirk chuckled at that and James stood up, heading for his suitcase.    
  
“Where you going?” Cliff asked and James came back with a small switchblade.

Kirk’s eyes widen and he scooted closer to Cliff, “Are you going to murder us?” 

James glared at him with a look that said ‘if-you-keep-talking-I-will’. “No, we’ll make a blood pact to never leave each other,” he said, sitting down on the bed again. He opened the knife and made two small cuts. One on his left palm and his left forearm. 

“Do the same on your left hands,” he told them, handing the blade to Lars. He did the same thing James did, sticking his tongue out to lessen the small sting on his arm.

Kirk took the blade from Lars and made two small cuts on his left hand too. He didn’t care that the blade already had James’ and Lars’ blood on it, he didn’t bother wiping it. Neither did Cliff. Cliff closed the blade and gave it to James, who made a mental note to clean it after.

“What now?” Kirk asked and James smiled at him.

“We’ll snake each other’s hands, let our blood flow with one another,” James explained and he grabbed Lars' forearm, letting the cut on his palm and Lars' forearm touch. Lars did the same, shaking James’ hand. Kirk and Cliff did what they did and after Kirk shook James’ arm and Lars to Cliff’s. They all did this with smiles on their faces. 

“Well, here’s to never getting separated,” Lars said, grabbing Kirk’s hand and shaking it, letting their blood be shared. 

“And to never quit on each other,” Cliff said, nodding at Lars.

“And no giving up on each other,” Lars added, nodding and smiling at the three.

Cliff and James smiled brightly at each other and James said, “Never getting separated by death,”

“Or by society,” Cliff added, a smirk on his face and he got up to get the med kit to wrap their arms with gauze.

“Or by any sort of argument,” Kirk stated, getting the bandages and gauze from the med kit.

“Or! Or by our selves being idiots,” Lars added, sitting against the wall. “What now?” he asked, trying to take the bed sheet from Kirk. Kirk pulled the bed sheet back, wrapping it around himself as if he was a child.

“Well, now that we’re awake, let’s drink!” Cliff said excitedly, grabbing four beers. He handed them around and they all drank.

After a minute of silence Kirk spoke up, “Do you guys want to play spin the bottle!?”

“I forgot the moderfocker was still drunk,” Lars cursed and stood up to throw out his lid.

“Sure! Let's play! Dibs to go first!” James said, sitting on the ground cross-legged.

“Second!” Kirk half yelled, quickly getting off the bed to sit beside James, the bed sheet still wrapped around his waist. James wrapped an arm around Kirk, bringing his beer to his lips and rocking them back and forth.

“Big wheels keep on turning, carry me home to see my kin!” James and Kirk started singing off-tune. 

“You guys know we’ll have to make out with each other right?” Cliff stated the only one who seemed to be sober at the time.

“Yeah that’s why it’s fun!” Kirk explained, dragging out the ‘u’.

“Okay, okay. Let’s make some rules!” James said, finishing the beer and putting it between them. Lars sat between Cliff and James. They were in a circle, all of them wearing nothing but their underwear, except for Kirk. And all four of them were drunk enough they will be vomiting everywhere in the morning. 

“So we spin the bottle, order is me, Kirkie, Cliffie and Larsie!” James said with a hiccup, “The first three kissed with the same person are on the cheek. The fourth one with the same person is a kiss on the lips and the fifth you have to make out,” James explained.

“And on the sixth you get to have sex and three children,” Lars added.

“We can?!” Kirk asked, a little too happy. Cliff shook his head and he stopped smiling. 

James spun the beer bottle, the bottle landing on Kirk. “Okay,” he said simply and he pressed a kiss on his cheek. 

“My turn!” Kirk said, bringing the sheet to his shoulders and spinning the bottle. It landed on Lars, Kirk moved forward and kissed him on the cheek. A few rounds passed by, everyone got to their second and third kisses and kisses but they started to get bored.

“I’m bored! Can we play something else?” Kirk giggled, leaning all his weight on Cliff.

“Okay, two more rounds, I want to make out with someone!” Lars said excitedly and he spun his bottle. It landed on James and it was now their fourth kiss. They moved in, pecking each other’s lips, their tongues lightly touching. Kirk smirked to himself and laid his head on Cliff’s lap. 

“Me again!” James said, spinning the bottle. It landed where Kirk was sitting and he looked at him. “Get up and let me kiss you,” James whined and Kirk didn’t move.

“Kiss me from where I am. ‘M too lazy,” he muttered and James rolled his eyes leaning between Cliff and Kirk to peck his lips. 

Kirk giggled and spun the bottle, it landed on Kirk and Cliff. Cliff chuckled and cupped Kirk’s cheek to lift him a bit. He held the kiss for a couple of seconds and broke it, making Kirk whine at the loss. 

Cliff smiled at him and before he spun the bottle he looked at Lars, “Last round right?”

“Yeah, then we’ll play something else,” Lars said and James looked at him with a smirk, “Truth or dare?”

“Yes!” Kirk yelled from where he was sitting and James giggled. Cliff rolled his eyes and spun the bottle. Again it landed on Cliff and Kirk and Lars broke out laughing.

“Haha! Fockers!” He yelled. James grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved Lars’ neck between his armpit, straddling him to keep quiet. 

Kirk sat upon Cliff’s lap and pressed his lips against his. Cliff shoved his tongue in the smaller man's mouth, deepening the kiss. Kirk wrapped his arms around Cliff’s neck, letting their tongues explore each other. Cliff put his hands on Kirk’s hips, deepening the kiss even more. They would have kept going if Lars hadn’t pulled the sheet from Kirk.

“HEY!” Kirk yelled, breaking the kiss. Lars got up and ran to the bathroom with the bedsheet. Kirk chased after him only to be locked outside by Lars.

He just stood there outside the door, arms hanging limply at his sides and his junk out in the air. James had rolled over laughing, choking on his own spit and Cliff was trying not to laugh. 

“Lars! I’m not wearing pants! Give me my sheet back!” Kirk yelled at him. It must have been 5 am and they'd probably woke everyone in the hotel up. James stood up and threw Kirk another bed sheet. He took it and wrapped it around himself like he was a nun.

The phone started ringing and James picked it up. “‘Elloooooo!” 

_ “Hi, is this Mr. Burton?”  _ The receptionist said.

“No,” James said.

_ “Well is he there? Or are you with him?” _

“Yeah I’m with Mr. Birdfuck,” James said and Cliff glared at him like it was insane. “Sorry I meant Bricklog,”

“No! Burton!” Cliff whisper yelled at him.

“I meant, Mr. Nobirdjug,” James corrected.

“Burton!” Cliff corrected him again.

“Boston,”

“Burton!”

“Berton,”

“It’s Burton!”

“It’s Bigdick,”

“Bu-rto-nnnnnn!”

“Pertooooonnnnn,”

“B-U-R-T-O-N!”

“Beeyouareton,”

“I hate you,”

“I love you,”

“I’m done,” Cliff said, walking to Kirk’s bed and plopped face first on the bed.

“Yeah he just left,” James said into the phone.

_ “Well, uhm...is it okay if you guys keep it down up there. We’ve had many complaints from other guests at the hotel,” _ she said after a silence.

“Yeah, uhm, sure. We’ll try. Thanks for calling! Bye!” James said, hanging the phone up. “Yo, lady said we need to be quiet!” He yelled.

“Shut up! Let’s sleep for a couple of hours,” Cliff said from Kirk’s bed. Kirk came from the bathroom door with the bed sheet still wrapped around him like he was a nun. He climbed on the bed and laid beside Cliff like a small child. Lars came out of the bathroom and threw the bed sheet at James, belly-flopping on the bed. They slept for the next 3 hours until Kirk jumped out of the bed and ran for the bathroom, throwing up all the alcohol he consumed. Lars got up to pee, ignoring Kirk who was throwing up. Instead he skipped the occupied toilet and peed in the shower, then turned the water on for a quick minute to rinse the piss out.

The hotel phone started ringing again and this time Cliff stood up to pick it up.

“Hello?”    
  
_ “Hey Cliff. Just wanted to let you guys know you’re not coming in the studio to practice and the gig you had planned downtown tomorrow is also cancelled,”  _ their manager said through the phone. 

Cliff looked at James confused as to why their plans had been cancelled. James just smirked at him, still not knowing what was happening.  _ Are we done already? _

“Wait, wait! Why is everything cancelled?” He asked, worried. James’ smirk disappeared off his face and he stood up, standing beside Cliff.

“Peter were we just fucking cancelled?” James cursed on the phone, trying to make out the situation. Lars came out of the bathroom, eyes wide.

_ “Boy are you fucking dumb? Who in their right minds would cancel you? Look outside morons! Everything is cancelled!” _ Their manager yelled into the phone.

Cliff pulled back the hotel curtain and looked outside the window. There was rapid and heavy snow falling from the sky, making it hard to see anything through the window.

“Blizzard?” James asked and he heard Peter go ‘uhmm’.

_ “Yeah, it’s like fringing Armageddon out there. Everything is closed except for like three stores. Stay inside to keep warm, don’t go out!” _ he yelled at them for being idiots.

“Ohhhhhhh. Thanks, Peter, See you when the blizzard is over,” James said and hung up. He moved to his bag of clothes and put a long sleeve shirt on. Cliff closed the curtain and moved to the mini-fridge to grab a salad for breakfast.

“Shit,” he cursed and Kirk finally came out of the bathroom.

“What?” Kirk and Lars said in unison. Cliff slammed the mini-fridge shut and cursed again.

“We’re out of food,” he told them, looking around the room for his pants.

“What the fock do you mean?” Lars asked again.

“I mean we have nothing to eat!” Cliff snapped at him.

“And room service is expensive as hell. Not only that, we’re broke,” James said matter of factly. It’s true, they were broke. Broke enough they had to get a room with just two twin beds at the hotel because it was the cheapest and largest room. They could barely afford anything.

“Well what do we do?” James cursed and looked over at Cliff who started to dress. “Are you going out there?” he asked him like he was a psychopath.

“Someone has to. We’re close to Canada so that means around March they get weather like this a lot. Whenever my dad would go to Toronto, in February it was summer weather and in March it blizzards worse than this. I have like fifty bucks on me, go out, grab a couple of things and be back. In like two days it’ll be done. Who wants to come?” Cliff asked, putting his third shirt on and a thick plaid top on top of it.

James kept looking at him like he was a psychopath, “That’s it guys, my bassist has lost his marbles!”

“I’ll come with you,” Kirk said, taking his bed sheet off and beginning to get dressed.

“Thanks Kirk! Lars?” Cliff asked and Lars shook his head.

“You fockers can die by yourselves. Like hell I want to freeze my beautiful ass off,” Lars sassed and sat on the bed, picking up a book.

“Fine, Kirk and I will go out and rescue you two,” Cliff teased and wrapped his scarf around his neck. Kirk didn’t have a scarf so he just put his hood on. They both put on two pairs of the thickest socks they owned and their rock boots. Kirk grabbed his empty backpack and put it on, so it’ll be easier for them to carry the groceries. 

Cliff grabbed his wallet and they headed out the door, hearing James yell after them, “We’ll keep your bed warm!” 

Kirk giggled and told Cliff when he closed the door, “You think they’ll get together someday?”

“Probably, maybe they’re already together and are going to screw each other while we go save their lives” he told the shorter man. They pressed the button to call the elevator, waiting for it to come. They stood beside each other, their shoulders touching.

“Have you ever been in a blizzard?” Kirk asked.

“Once, when I was like eleven. I left some stupid toy outside in the yard. So I went out in my shorts and my pyjama shirt to get it. I was also barefoot. I went out, came back inside covered in snow and freezing, I got the toy though! Two hours later I had a fever of 39 ,” he told him and Kirk laughed. The elevator came and they went inside. Cliff pressed the button and the elevator door closed. They stood there in silence, not knowing what to say.

“Wait, what store are we going to?” Kirk asked before they exited the elevator on the main floor.

Cliff shrugged and said, “I don’t know, there's a variety store down the street. We’ll start there,”

They were heading towards the exit when the receptionist stopped them, “Excuse me! Gentleman! Is it okay if I asked where you’re going with such weather?” she asked with a confused smile.

“We’re going out for groceries,” Cliff said simply.

She looked even more confused and said, “In that weather? There’s no need to go out there! We can get you room service,”

“Lady, no offence but your meatballs cost more than a prostitute and they suck worse than she will. No thanks,” Cliff snapped at her and dragged Kirk out the door. Kirk was giggling up until they reached outside. The snow was hitting them hard, falling on them like pounds of heavy nails. The wind was so strong they felt like they were being sliced by a million razor blades. 

Cliff grabbed Kirk’s hand and started sprinting towards the variety store. They could pick up some beef jerky, a couple of beers, cereal, colas and some chips. They ran down the street to reach the variety store quickly. They were the only thing moving outside apart from the snow and the trees. Rounding around the corner they reached the outside of the store. The lights were off and the sign said ‘CLOSED’. 

Cliff stomped his feet. He had many intentions to break into the store but his whole body was so cold he wanted to pass out. Everything felt so numb he didn’t even notice his own two feet moving as Kirk dragged him down the street. He realised when the snow stopped hitting him and he could hear his bass solo playing over him. He snapped back to reality and looked around him. They were inside a Presto and the radio was playing Pulling Teeth. He smiled and let the warmth wash over his body. Kirk shivered beside him and pulled them further through the store. 

Cliff chuckled and Kirk grabbed a cart, their hands still together. They were both shivering, covered in snow head to toe. Their faces rosy pink and their hands and feet so numb in hurt. Everything hurt and despite the warmth of the store they were shaking like fish out of water. Cliff huddled Kirk closer to him, putting his arms around him to keep them both warm. They pushed the cart together, not saying anything and putting food in the cart.

Back at the hotel Lars was standing by the window, watching Cliff and Kirk run down the street and cut the corner. 

“They make it?” James asked from their bed.

“I don’t know, they turned around the corner to that variety store,” Lars explained, squinting through the snow hitting the window. Luckily their room was facing the front of the hotel so they could see the front street.

“That means they made it,” James said huddling under the covers. Lars was going to go to him but from the corner of his eye he saw Cliff and Kirk running to the other direction.

“What the fock?” he cursed and they got out of his sigh.

“What?”

  
  
“I just saw them run the opposite direction!” Lars said and James sighed.

“Fucking Canada!” James cursed and wrapped more covers around him. The room started getting cold. “Get away from the window and close the curtains. It's getting cold,” James whined and Lars did as told.

He climbed in the bed beside James and cuddled close to him to keep warmth.

“You think they’ll make it?” He asked, wrapping his arms around the bigger man’s waist.

“Yeah, they’ll find a store, get beer-”

“And food,” Lars cut in.

“And food,” James repeated, “and they’ll be back in like twenty minutes. Besides, Cliff wouldn’t let him and Kirk die in the snow. Too stubborn,”

“True,” Lars agreed and smiled up at James who was also smirking ear to ear. Lars cupped his chin and brought him down for a small gentle kiss. James climbed on top of Lars, sliding his tongue in his mouth and deepening the kiss.

Back at the grocery store Kirk and Cliff were still shivering like fish but still had somehow managed to fill the cart with some bananas, chips, cereal, a carton of milk, some plastic cutlery and plates, sodas, beer, beef jerky, two packs of sliced bread, peanut butter and jam. They pushed the cart together to the cashier and Cliff started taking things out of the cart.

“You guyz need bagz or do you have your own?” The cashier asked, talking in a strange accent and Cliff glared at him ‘do we look like we’re on a shopping spree?’.

“Yeah, o-over here,” Kirk shivered, taking his snowy and now wet backpack off. He handed him to the cashier and let Cliff do the cart stuff. He came back to the cashier with two packs of tea and a bottle of konyak. 

“Wh-why w-we need tha-at?” Cliff asked through shaky teeth.

“When we get back. Kee-keep us warm,” Kirk explained. 

The cashier checked out all the items and read out the total, “$74.27,”

“F-fuck,” Cliff cursed as he fished his wallet out of his pocket. He counted up sixty-seven bucks. “I’m short seven,” he muttered to Kirk, “take the konyak out.”

“Th-the konyak the only thing that will keep us from getting mo-more cold when we get to the hotel,” Kirk explained as he dug through his pockets. He pulled out a bunch of change and counted up five more dollars.

“Lo-look man, we’re short two dollars. Is-is it okay if we come back in a couple of days to pay you back? I can g-g-give you our hotel number, or our manager's number,” Kirk shivered, handing the man the money.

He looked back and forth at them and shrugged, taking the money, “Iz fine. You boyz look like two ize cubz. Iz two buckz only,” he said, handing Kirk his backpack.

“Tha-thank you sir,” Kirk said with a smile and took the bag. He put it on his back and waved at the man.

“Be zafe!” The man called after them and Kirk grabbed Cliff’s hand again. They pushed through the door and started sprinting down the streets of New York to get back to the hotel. The only bad thing, they didn’t know which direction the hotel was.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is worse than the other one. Fluff and arguing in the end.

Lars and James were panting, lying beside each other.

“That was…” James said trailing off, holding on to Lars tight. The room wasn’t so cold anymore because the hotel staff must have turned on the heating system. They were both sweating, curled up in each other’s arms.

“The best focking sex ever,” Lars finished for him, pecking his lips. James smiled brightly at him and then his stare ran cold. 

“What?” Lars asked.

“What time is it?” James asked, worry written all over him. 

Lars looked at the bedside table and it read ten-fifteen. “It’s fifteen minutes past ten. Why?”   
  


A cold chill ran down his spine and he basically flew out of the bed. He went to the window and pulled the curtains back, not caring if anyone would see him with his junk hanging out. It didn’t matter because he could barely see outside. It was snowing even harder and the wind was much more faster. James started panicking. He started pacing back and forth trying to figure out where they were.

“James! What the hell is going on?” Lars tried to talk to him, slipping on a pair of pants.

“Kirk and Cliff! Cliff and Kirk! They’ve been out there for almost two fucking hours! Hell they could be frozen to death right now while we were too busy fucking like whores!” James yelled. Tears were threatening to spill out his eyes and his whole body trembling in fear. 

“Holy shit! It’s been two hours? Where the fock are they?” Lars asked himself, also pacing around the room. 

James stopped pacing around and made his way to his pile of clothes, starting to get dressed and adding layers to himself.

“Where you going?” Lars asked, stopping dead in his tracks.

“To find them,”

“Are you also insane? You can’t go out there!” Lars tried snapping some sense into him but his skull was too thick.

“Well they could be lost! Who knows but I’m going out there!” James snapped at the shorter man, putting on a second shirt. He stopped when he heard a knock on the door. He stormed at the door, unlocked it and wanked it open hard enough to rip it out the wall.

“He-hey,” Kirk said walking through, slowly with Cliff clinging onto him. They were both covered with snow head to toe, their hair frizzy and all over the place, thick coats of snow on their eyelashes and eyebrows. Their skin was pale and red at the same time, both clearly having frostbite everywhere. 

“Hey?” Lars repeated louder. Kirk took his backpack off and set it on the ground. They both started to slowly strip their wet and snowy clothes. Once they were both in just a t-shirt and their underwear they climbed in Kirk’s bed, huddling under the blankets like children. 

James and Lars looked confused, what just happened?

“What the fuck happened to you guys?! You were gone out there for two hours!” James yelled at them, “We thought you two froze to death! I almost went out there looking for you! What the hell were you doing!?”

“Th-the variety store was closed,” Cliff shivered beside Kirk, “so Kirk dragged us to a-a Pre-presto I think. We got a few stuff, in the beg,”

Lars looked to where Kirk placed his backpack. He opened it and looked at what was in it, starting to put a few things in the mini-fridge.

“It took you two fucking hours to get bread, peanut butter and tea!?” James’ anger was getting the better of him. Everyone knew he wasn’t really angry with Cliff and Kirk, he was just really worried for his friends.

“We-we got lost,” Kirk admitted, his jaw shivering up and down.

James kept looking at them like they were both psychopaths.

“Can you make us some tea?” Cliff asked innocently and James nodded.

“Awesome! You guys bought some good stuff!” Lars said, picking up the bottle of konyak.

“Not for drinking. Put some in our tea, helps stay warm,” Kirk explained and James yanked the bottle out of Lars’ hands. Lars flipped him off and stood up, walking towards Cliff and Kirk. He grabbed the blanket from his and James’s bed and threw it over Cliff and Kirk. James filled the coffee machine with water and skipped the coffee part and just heated the water. Once the water was hot enough he poured in two paper cups from the hotel samples and put in the tea bags. Adding a teaspoon of sugar in both drinks, putting one shot of konyak for Cliff and two for Kirk, just for a laugh.

He handed them the drinks and they both drank them slowly to not get burned. 

“I’m starving. I’ll make us sandwiches,” Lars announced and headed for the mini-fridge. James turned on the old tv and sat on the floor, leaning on Kirk’s bed. That’s how they spend their whole day, watching Star Wars, Star Trek, The Legend of the Lone Ranger and Thunder Cats while drinking spiked tea and eating snacks. Although neither of the four will ever admit it, they were all kinda sad the Thunder Cats marathon was over.

Soon they all fell asleep at 10 pm. Around 11 in the morning they woke up to Kirk groaning in his sleep. 

“Kirk?” Lars asked from the floor. James looked up to see Kirk stirring in his sleep, he groaned and got out of bed to head to the bathroom. That woke Cliff up and he looked over at Kirk who was sweating and shivering, lightly moaning in his sleep. Cliff pressed the back of his palm on Kirk's forehead, feeling how hot it is.

“Fever,” Cliff informed the others.

A couple hours later they were all sitting on the floor around the TV watching Thunder Cats. Kirk had three blankets around him and a thermometer in his mouth, his hot tea beside him on the ground. His nose running and his throat sore.

The thermometer beeped and he glared at Cliff when James read out the numbers. “38,”

“How come I get sick and that fucker doesn’t?!” Kirk complained, pointing at Cliff who looked fine as the others. 

Lars laughed and said, “Because in every chick flick the chick gets sick and the big bad boyfriend babysits her. That’s how nature works,” Kirk flipped him off and drank his tea, ignoring the other assholes laughing at him.

Cliff laughed and crawled to sit beside Kirk. He wrapped his arms around the smaller man’s waist and kissed his forehead. Kirk leaned into that and curled closer to Cliff.

“I knew it!” Lars half yelled in excitement.

“What? Are you guys the only ones who are allowed to be together?” Cliff asked casually. James and Lars looked confused and Cliff said, “You should have cleaned your bed stains,”

“Fuck,” James muttered and kissed Lars. 

“Wait. So turns out they were fucking while we were saving their lives?” Kirk joked and they all laughed.

**Somewhere is 2004**

“I’m-just shut the fock up!” Lars spat in James’ face.

“Why? Because I’m right!?” James yelled back. It’s been going on for a while, James and Lars have been arguing over times and dates for a while and are now screaming at each other.

Rob and Kirk were sitting at the table James was sitting at, quietly listening to them argue. Bob and their sound producers were sitting on the couch, listening to everything unfold. Kirk felt bad for everyone in the room who got to experience James’ and Lars’ anger. Especially Rob.

“It’s like you don’t even care about Metallica! We can’t set a date on anything because you’re too fucking busy screwing around!” James yelled and Lars sat on the table a few meters away from James.

“I don’t care?” He yelled frantically pointing at himself, “You’re the focker who’s been screwing around ever since you came back! I’ve done more for this band than you could ever do! Hell the reason Jason left is because of you!”

“You’re the douche bag who treated him worse than all of us! Especially during the Black Album!” James and Lars kept going back and forth for what felt like hours. Kirk looked up at Rob apologetically. He mouthed at him that they’ll be fine Rob nodded. If Rob would have known better, Kirk looked like he was about to have a mental breakdown.

“That’s your problem James! You keep pushing blame on to others for your stupid mistakes! You keep making focking excuses!” At this point Lars was standing over James like he was about to consume him.

This pissed James even more and he stood up, inches away from the little Dan.

“Blaming others? Tell me when was the last time I blamed someone for shit!” James demanded and Lars let out a loud and dry laugh.

“The last time? Where do I start? Or should I say when? You blamed Jason about Cliff. You blamed Kirk about Cliff. You-”

“What does this have to do with Cliff?” James snapped, and Lars shut up. “And who told you I blamed Jason about Cliff? The dude wasn’t even there when the accident happened!”

“Everything has to do with Cliff! And you couldn’t blame Jason about Cliff so you blamed Kirk. You used him as your emotional punching bag and then when the time was right you did the same with Jason!” Lars cried out and James looked like he wanted to punch someone. At this point they were in their own world because neither of them acknowledged Kirk who was sitting across from them silently crying in his arm. Rob reached out to rub his shoulder in comfort but he stopped him with his other hand. Rob now feared that his career in Metallica might be over because the band seemed to be going very downhill.

“And you’re telling me you didn’t?” James yelled at him and Lars opened and closed his mouth, not finding a good comeback, “Nothing left to say huh? Just admit to being a lazy and full of anger bastard!” 

“You’re the one with the anger issues!” Lars snapped at him.

“No, but you aren’t any better than me! In fact, you’re worse. Considering Jason left because of you and that Kirk-”

“This isn’t about Kirk or Cliff or Jason or whoever! It’s about you being a-”

“I don’t know if you two haven’t noticed, but this has everything to do with Kirk, Cliff and Jason,” Bob said getting up from the couch, cutting James short from his statement. He had heard enough and needed to put the argument to an end.

“Not only are you two arguing about something completely irrelevant but you’re also hurting your best friend and traumatising your new band member,” Bob notified them and for the first time that day James and Lars turned around to look at Kirk and Rob. James’ gut started choking him when he looked at Kirk silently letting tears slip from his eyes. James and Lars both forgot about their argument and started to feel like complete crap.

“Kirk-”

“Don’t” he cut Lars off, wiping his tears off his face, “Just don’t. I’m fine, go back to yelling at each other,” he said simply and drilled holes into the table with his eyes.

“No, Kirk. We-we are both assholes-”

“And it took you twenty-one years to notice,” Kirk stated drily and finally looked up at James with watery eyes.

“I...I deserved that,” James muttered under his breath loud enough for everyone to hear. Kirk dropped his gaze and went back to glaring at the table, his jaw clenched. He didn’t know if he was angry or sad or a mixture of both.

“Kirk, we’re sorry we-”

“I don’t want to hear it,” he snapped at Lars, still refusing to look at anyone. This made James and Lars feel worse, ‘cause Kirk never talked back and when he did it wasn’t like this.

“You deserve to though,” James told him and Kirk looked up at him with an icy stare.

“I deserved to when I was your punching bag. Now you can both take your ‘sorry’ and stick it up your asses,” he cursed, looking between the two.

“Kirk, come on man,” Lars tried to calm him down but he was tired of them. 

“No! Don’t ‘come-on-man’ me! I’ve been keeping up with both of your shit and I’m getting tired of it. Grow out of your stupid ego and grow up,” Kirk argued, trying to keep his voice down.

“Our ego? We don’t have an ego! At least I don’t!” James defended himself and Lars scoffed. They started back up again, yelling at each other and arguing. Kirk put his hands on his hips, shaking his head in disappointment. His kids were better than these two. They were not at the point where they were yelling over each other and no one could even understand what was coming out of both of them.

“Guys!” Kirk tried to shut them up but they returned to their own little planet. Bob shook his head in disappointment and walked towards the kitchen. 

Rob looked up at Kirk apologetically and he stood up, heading to the kitchen with Bob.

“Fine then! I quit!” Lars yelled, throwing his arms up in surrender. That shut James up and he just looked at him, dumbstruck. Kirk was also frozen in place, looking at Lars like he was a psychopathy.

“You what?” James whispered, his voice shaking. Rob and Bob were standing between the kitchen doorway, listening to the conversation.

“I said I quit!” Lars repeated, walking away from James, “You can keep the band and my songs. If it’s the only thing we can agree on,”

“Lars-”

“You don’t have the right to quit,” Kirk stated, grabbing their attention, “You don’t have the right to give up like that,”

“And who says that?” Lars asked, sass in his voice and his hands on his hips.

“You,” Kirk snapped at him. He rolled up the shirt sleeve from his left hand, revealing a small scar on his forearm and his palm, “You both promised you wouldn’t,”

James looked down at his own two scars and rubbed the one on his forearm.

Lars looked down at his palm, guilty of what he said and looked up at Kirk again, “We were young and drunk when we made that pack,” he stated, his voice also shaky.

“The only one that was drunk was me and James a little bit. You and Cliff were sober,” he said in a matter of fact tone. James kept looking at the ground, the memory of that night coming back.

“That was a long time ago,” James whispered and Kirk shook his head.

“Doesn’t matter, we all promised we would stay together till the end-”

“Cliff broke that pact. So it-”

“Cliff broke that pact because he died!” Kirk snapped and James rendered silent, “Cliff stayed with us until his end. Or at least his end. We promised to always stick together no matter who tried to separate us,” 

“And we also promised to never give up or quit on each other,” Lars added, his voice soft and quiet. James looked him in the eye and then back at Kirk.

“He’s right, we didn’t just promise to ourselves, we promised Cliff too. The least we could do is keep up our promise,” James said, eyes softly looking at Kirk.

They stayed there quietly for a minute, acknowledging each other’s presence. They didn’t notice that the sound crew, Bob and Rob had slipped away in the kitchen to give them privacy.

After a minute of silence James spoke up softly, “So...what now?” 

Lars and him locked eyes, sadness and guilt written all over them. “We’ll keep our promise, now matter how much of a pain in the ass you both are. We need to stick together until the end. ‘Cause without you guys I won’t be able to do it,” Lars admitted and a small smile crept on his and Kirk’s lips.

“You guys obviously have tension between you two. And you need to fix it, for both of sake’s,” Kirk said, walking closer to the two.

James chuckled and said, “Or you’ll face the wrath of the Hammett!” They laughed and finally hugged it out.

“I swear we’re worse than a group of kids,” Kirk joked and they laughed.

“Oh you love us!” Lars commented and kissed them both the cheek, James pretending to be disgusted. 

From the kitchen Bob sighed a breath of relief, Rob looking at him confused. “Are they always like this?”   
  
Bob laughed and said, “What? No! They argue sometimes but never this heated. Last time they had an argument like this was in ‘91 and they all gave each other the silent treatment. Especially James and Lars. So me and a few of the guys stuffed them in a closet until they all resolved their problems. They yelled for like an hour and then somehow found a pack of cards and ended up playing poker. You’ll be fine,” Bob encouraged and pated the other man’s shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I just had to do post that.


End file.
